He's Speaking Backwards Again
by The Trickiest One
Summary: Kai spoke directly to the demon possessing Lloyd instead.


**I decided to write this for agent-pebble' AU on Tumblr about Lloyd getting possessed by a demon Morro because I thought it was so freaking cool and freaky! (There's also references of the Exorcist in this)**

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 **WARNING: Blood, bodily harm, demonic possession, very mild gore**

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 _Kai could have sworn that the whole world had stopped at this very moment, the others were busy screaming and he was stuck, staring at who used to be the Green Ninja, or what was left of him. He was still alive...and dead at the same time? Kai wasn't sure enough to tell, because he definitely looked dead, eyes bloodshot and whatever substance that was coming from his mouth was choking him. Scratches on his body looked to be self-inflicted and clearly, Lloyd's natural hair color wasn't black. Behind him, Zane and Jay were calling an ambulance and Cole and Nya were attempting to bind him in deepstone, he'd forgotten that they had it._

 _Kai finally came to a conclusion: Lloyd Garmadon was possessed._

 _He didn't know if he was right or not, but after all the movies that he's seen before, he was pretty sure his worst nightmare had come true. Looking back at his fallen leader, Lloyd was thrashing at the Water and Earth Ninja, screaming profanities at them while the two successfully bound him in chains._

 _"I hate all of you, it was you who made my life so miserable!" Lloyd shouted, his voice sounded strained like he hadn't used it in so long. "You dirty liars!"_

 _"Lloyd, we wouldn't hurt you!" Nya backed up, Lloyd was still trying to move._

 _"Shut up!" Lloyd spat at her. Just, his tone was so off, so anger-driven_

 _"Lloyd-"_

 _"I'll kill you and everyone you love!" Lloyd then announced. That shook Kai out of his thoughts, next to him, Cole went out for the ambulance with Zane and Jay. "I'll kill myself if I have to!"_

 _Nya left too, just leaving Lloyd and Kai, together, alone._

 _Big mistake._

 _Lloyd stopped shouting and eyed the Fire Ninja, he giggled._

 _"Wanna play a game, Kai?" His smile was definitely not charming, especially not the black substance falling from it._

 _"What game?" Kai asked unsurely. Kai wasn't going to encourage nor was he wanting information from that...thing. He just wanted his little brother back._

 _"It's called You Run and Hide, I Find and Kill You."_

 _Yeah, that sounded fun._

 _"How do you play?"_

 _"It's simple, you let me out of these chains and run, then I go and find you," Lloyd gave a grin with malicious intent. "I promise to be nice when I rip your guts out slowly as you watch,"_

 _"Fat chance." Kai scoffed. He could hear sirens in the near distance._

 _Lloyd frowned, and not out of spite, but out of disappointment._

 _"Play a game with me, Kai."_

 _Kai shook his head no as Lloyd screamed profanities again. Rude. His eyes had successfully rolled themselves back into place and instead of green, Kai was met with red._

 _Lloyd was speaking backwards._

 _Lloyd was far too gone at this point._

* * *

The media went crazy with rumors and information about Lloyd that the remaining ninja had to tell them to back off, he was unstable and anyone near him would most likely fall into his death chokehold, literally. No one had died yet, and only a lucky few were able to get out with only broken arms and black eyes, some with even worse injuries.

Currently, the Green Ninja was held in Quarantine at a one of Ninjago's top hospital and the ninja were waiting for one of the doctors to meet them there. They were allowed to go into Quarantine but weren't allowed to go as far as at least ten feet toward Lloyd's 'space'. They would hear him yelling and scratching on the walls, doctors were frantically running around and checking his vital signs through a one-way mirror and a closed off room.

Whoever-whatever was possessing him, was indeed violent.

Kai scrolled through his phone and the news headlines almost made him laugh:

 **Is Green Ninja possessed by a vengeful spirit?**

 **What happened to our beloved Green Ninja? Will he be able to recover?**

 **Local officer's arm has been amputated, Lloyd Garmadon is to blame**

 **Lloyd Garmadon has finally snapped, joined the dark side of evil**

 **The Green Ninja isn't what he seems, is someone else there with him?**

 **Is he sick? Is he dying? Find out now on: Top Ten Questions Scientists still can't answer about the Green Ninja**

There was no telling when Lloyd would eventually 'recover'. Probably never. That was not _his_ Lloyd.

A tissue had been handed to him by Cole. Kai didn't even realize that he'd been crying. The last time he had spoken to Lloyd was when Lloyd had supposedly 'snapped' and yelled at them for leaving him to die when that never happened. Kai felt at fault for his possession, he promised to protect the Green Ninja and instead he failed to do one simple job, just like how he had failed at everything else.

"I'm glad you all came," Kai could hear a conversation going between his friends and a doctor. He was so exhausted from worrying that he completely forgot about sleep. The doctor hesitated for a moment. "We ran into...a problem."

Kai didn't want to get up, he was too afraid of what happened. None of them have been here in weeks, so many things could have gone wrong. Lloyd drew blood. Lloyd killed someone. Lloyd killed himself. Lloyd-

He was interrupted by Zane's hand in his, his cold touch pulled him back into reality. Kai had been overthinking things, and that was Jay's job. Zane told Kai to breathe steady breaths. Kai's breathing was the exact opposite of that.

The doctor led them down the hall to the end, it was empty, except the for janitors cleaning dried blood and shreds of clothing from Lloyd's last 'visitor'. The air felt cold, the doctor told them that they discovered that Lloyd had liked the cold, it was what soothed him and got him to calm down. It was quiet but it echoed of his screams of either pain or sadism, his laughter was childish and dark.

"While you five had been gone, he hasn't been his best lately. We took extra precautions," The door to Lloyd's 'room' opened and they were met with him, arms spread wide open, floating about three feet from his bed. The ninja gaped at his showcase, he was speaking backwards again. "He's been at this for hours, and we can't figure out why. Just yesterday, we had to tie him to his bed, but he seemed to have advanced out of it,"

On his bed, there were some ropes that had been snapped, the red markings on Lloyd's wrist and legs told exactly that.

"We did, however, find out what he has been saying but were only able to make out five sentences, it looks like he was having a conversation with himself," Behind Lloyd's glass mirror, there was a drop, Lloyd was done doing...whatever that was. The possessed laughed.

"Fun," Kai could barely hear his voice. "Going to do it again soon."

The doctor pulled out a tape recorder and played Lloyd's words:

 _Dirbyh, em pots dna yrt tsuj_

 _Em thgif t'nod_

 _Niw ton lliw uoy_

 _Ereh eb syawla lliw I_

There was a laugh coming from the tape, then he played it in reverse:

 _I will always be here_

 _You will not win_

 _Don't fight me_

 _Just try and stop me, hybrid_

Zane dismissed the doctor, two security guards stood at Lloyd's door. Kai's hand immediately heated up, he was sweating. Today, they were told that they could visit him, they just had to be careful of his outbursts. The first time they were there, Kai suffered broken ribs and a broken arm and the team had been protective of him ever since. "Does anyone want to-?"

Jay, Nya, and Cole all shook their heads in fear that Lloyd would hurt them if they tried to go near him.

Nevertheless, Kai _needed_ to talk to him.

"I'll go," Kai said. All eight pairs of eyes were all on him.

"Oh no, you're not!" Nya stepped in front of him.

"Let me go talk to him, sis," Kai insisted. "I'll get through to him, the real him. Not this monster or whatever that has taken over his body!"

"You said that the first time, and you got hurt because of it!"

"I know, but this time, I promise I won't. If Lloyd tries anything, I will-I will-"

"You wouldn't hurt Lloyd even if your life depended on it,"

Nya was right, of course, she was. Lloyd was his little brother and Kai cared about him, there was always a line drawn when you hurt someone you loved. Lloyd made that mistake once, and he wasn't going to make that same mistake twice. Or at least Kai hoped he wouldn't.

"Nya, you have to trust me," Kai whispered. Nya sighed and hugged him. Kai was stubborn and getting him to change his mind was a hard task.

"But if that son of the dark lord hurts you-"

"I'll make sure he doesn't," Kai gave her a reassuring smile was handed a black vest. Kai just shook his head and gave it back to them, he wasn't going to need it. The guards gave him sorrowful looks before pressing a button, the door slid up into the ceiling, they were all going in together when Kai waved a hand. "No, I'll go do this myself,"

The guards exchanged glances and stepped back, letting the door fall behind him.

Lloyd was scratching himself, muttering to himself. Kai could see faint white markings across his body. Oni markings most likely. Kai shuffled his foot indicate to Lloyd that he was there.

"Hey Kai, do you still want to play a game now?" Lloyd announced. That's right, all he's been wanting to do is to play some game that would involve one of them getting killed. During the first encounter, Kai had said no and Lloyd lashed out on him.

"What exactly do you have in mind?" Kai now leaned against the door. Lloyd hummed.

"You answer my question and maybe I'll spare you when I escape,"

"That's not a game, that's an interrogation."

"Where's the staff of the First Spinjitzu Master?" Lloyd snarled, his back facing Kai. The Fire Ninja blinked slowly, not only had he completely ignored him but on his back, but scars lay like jagged rows. There was no way that Lloyd would have done that to himself, at all.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Kai lied. Well, not lied lied, but he had no idea what the possessed was talking about. Lloyd mumbled an _'of course he doesn't'_ and stood up.

"You don't know, do you?" Lloyd turned to face him. "Game over, you lose! I'm going to love your head on my wall every morning!"

"That ain't happening any time soon, Lloyd." The green-eyed monster tensed. Kai hadn't said his name in forever it seemed. Lloyd looked down and went to scratch himself, he drew blood this time. "Stop hurting him,"

Kai spoke directly to the demon possessing Lloyd instead.

"Then how about another game?" Lloyd smirked. He moved from behind the bed and Kai could do nothing but stare. The possessed was barefoot, covered in bloodied bandages. "You tell me where your Master is hiding and I'll let him go,"

Kai sucked in air, making Lloyd laugh, he was conflicted. If he risked telling him where Master Wu was, Lloyd would finally be free of his possession, on the other hand, if he didn't, who knew of what this demon would do to Lloyd? The amount of time the possessed had joked about killing himself was very alarming.

"I-" He had to do it for everyone. For himself. For Lloyd. "I-I can't!"

Why couldn't he do it!? He knew exactly where Master Wu was. The Destiny's Bounty, most likely meditating.

"Hm, hard choices, yeah?" The possessed confirmed. Then he moved closer to Kai, nails dragging along the walls, he had grown them out. "Tell me where he resides, or the boy will face a more painful death than you'll ever get,"

Now that they were face to face, Kai could smell his breath. It reeked of evil and dirty lies. Kai's gulped and summoned his lost courage.

"That's not why I came here!" Kai could feel his hands heating up but willed them to cool off. Lloyd's eyes glowed red, it was cold.

"Then why did you come here, Firebreather?" Lloyd, this time, sneered. Kai was used to these type of tense atmospheres.

"To save my brother!" Kai yelled and took a glass bottle of water from his pocket and hitting Lloyd on the face with it. Lloyd's skin looked like it was going to burn when he jumped back in surprise, but the burns were slow to heal. Regular tap water was not going to work, got it. Kai could feel Lloyd's anger once he regained his strength.

"You mediocre idiot!" Lloyd wrapped his unscarred hand around Kai's neck. Kai choked at the loss of breath. "You think that you can take me down that easily!? You are clearly mistaken!"

Kai couldn't breathe if this was how he was going down at the hand of his little brother, then so be it. _Wait._ It was too soon, he was going to get Lloyd back, even if it was the last thing he did. Shakily putting a hand to Lloyd's arm, feeling it heat up, soon enough, Lloyd's arm was on fire. Lloyd shrieked and fell backwards, blowing out his arm.

The door opened behind him, the others were screaming at Kai to hurry.

Kai backed up quickly as Lloyd followed him and the door fell immediately after. Lloyd banged on the door, hissing, talking, screaming. Eventually, the former Green Ninja started crying. That hurt his heart.

Kai let out a bitter laugh.

He actually thought that he could _save_ him. And he was _reckless_ enough that he didn't even take extra precautions. He was stupid. _Stupid. Stupid. Stupid._

While he sat down, Kai heard the others talking about getting an exorcist.

"Exorcism is an ancient art! I highly doubt Wu or Misako know about it!" Jay said exactly what he was thinking. "And even if we knew someone who would perform an exorcism, would they even risk exorcising-" Jay pointed to Lloyd. "Whoever possessed our friend!?"

"Yeah, but there are many people in Ninjago who know of this art, it shouldn't be that hard to find just one," Cole said in high hopes.

If they couldn't find an exorcist by then, they were back at square one.

Kai eyed Lloyd from his chair, he was sitting on his bed, talking, scratching and irritating his skin as he was always going to be.

He's speaking backwards again.

* * *

 **The day I stop writing Lloyd angst is the day I die.**


End file.
